AN INTRODUCTION TO ZEN BUDDHISM
thesecretchamberofthemind,wherethedevoteescanfind
numberlesstreasuresstored.Thesenseofseeingorhearinghas
nothingtodowiththeessentialmeaningofthekoan;astheZen
masterssay,thekoanisonlyapieceofbrickusedtoknockatthe
gate,anindex-fingerpointingatthemoon.Itisonlyintended
to synthesize or transcend—whichever expression you may
choose—thedualismofthesenses. Solongasthemindisnot
fi-eetoperceiveasoundproducedbyonehand,itislimitedand
isdividedagainstitself.Insteadofgraspingthekeytothesecrets
ofcreation, themindishopelessly buriedintherelati\atyof
things, and, therefore, in theirsuperficiality. Until themind
isfreefrom thefetters, thetimenever comesfor itto view
thewholeworld\s-ithanyamountofsatisfaction.The sound
ofonehandasamatteroffactreachesthehighestheavenas
wellasthelowesthell,justasone'soriginalfacelooksoverthe
entirefieldofcreationeven totheendoftime.Hakuinand
theSixthPatriarchstandonthesameplatformuiththeirhands
mutuallyjoined.To mention another instance. \V'hen Joshu was asked
aboutthesignificanceofBodhidharma'scoming east (which,
proverbially, is the same as asking about the ftmdamentalprinciple ofBuddhism),he replied, "Thecypress-treeinthe
courtyard.""Youaretalking,"saidthemonk,"ofanobjectivesymbol."
"No,Iamnottalkingofanobjectivesymbol."
"Then," asked the monk again, "what is the ultimate
principleofBuddhism?""Thec>-press-treeinthecourt-ard,"againrepliedJoshu.
Thisisalsogiventoabeginnerasakoan.
Abstractlyspeaking,thesekoanscannotbesaidtobealto-
gethernonsensical evenfi-om acommon-sense pointofview,andifwewanttoreason aboutthem thereis perhapsroom
enoughtodoso.Forinstance,somemayregardHakuin'sone
hand as symbolizingtheuniverse or theunconditioned,and
Joshu'scypress-treeasaconcretemanifestationofthehighest
principle,throughwhichthepantheistictendencyofBuddhismmayberecognized.Buttounderstandthekoanthusintellectually
isnotZen, norissuchmetaphysicalsymbolismatallpresent
here. Under no circumstances ought Zen to be confounded
io6i